About the Centre

The Centre for Faith in Public Life at Wesley House, Cambridge supports and promotes the active, informed, and constructive engagement of Christians and churches in public life for furthering ‘the welfare of the city’, peace, justice, freedom, equality, and the common good. It does this through study, research, publishing, and conversations in the area of faith and public life.

The Centre provides a hub for public theology and Christian social ethical thought within Wesleyan traditions. We are located physically in Cambridge and virtually through its global network of scholars. The Centre aims to promote the public ministry and mission of churches and the public witness of Christians in their daily lives.

From 2021, the Centre is a member of the Global Network for Public Theology.

Informed by Wesleyan tradition, and inclusively ecumenical in spirit, the Centre offers theological resources and research into contemporary issues facing humanity. Those that are of specific interest to the Centre are these topics of public and political theology:

  • the relationship between Christianity and democracy
  • the impact of secularization on society
  • issues of political economy, including poverty and inequality
  • the impact of political and social ideologies on human well-being
  • the role of the state in public life
  • ecology and climate change
  • technology
  • church engagement in public issues

Who we are:

  • A face-to-face and virtual community that brings theology and public life into conversation
  • An international community of post-graduate students studying contemporary belief, Christian social ethics, and public and political theologies
  • Networks of practitioners and professionals communicating their faith in public and through their work

What we do:

  • Communicate the teachings of Christian faith on matters of public concern in secular and interfaith environments
  • Conduct advanced theological research into public issues and ethical questions of concern to the public and church members
  • Resource Christians and churches in responding to pressing issues from an informed Christian perspective
  • Hold public lectures and seminars in Christian social ethics
  • Host scholars in public theology for sabbaticals
  • Supervise projects in Christian social ethics and public theology for post-graduate research degrees
  • Facilitate encounters between Christian workers and theologians

Centre Reference Group

Contact:

Dr Richard A. Davis
Director of Contextual Theology
Director of the Centre for Faith in Public Life
Wesley House, Jesus Lane, Cambridge, CB5 8BJ
email: rd652@cam.ac.uk

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